Former True Blood Showrunner Alan Ball Reacts to Season 6 Premiere

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the sixth season premiere of True Blood. Read at your own risk.]Sookie Stackhouse and the gang returned Sunday for the Season 6 premiere of True Blood, but there was one person missing: former showrunner ...

Ball, who was the creative force behind the HBO series since its premiere, stepped down as showrunner at the end of Season 5. Co-executive producer Mark Hudis succeeded him, but was later replaced by writer-producer Brian Buckner, who has been with the show since its inception.

Still, Ball was on hand at the show's premiere party last week to screen the first episode, in which Bill (Stephen Moyer) becomes Billith, a seemingly super-immortal vampire that can't be killed by the stake that Sookie (Anna Paquin) drives through his heart.So, what did Ball think? "I loved it," he told TVGuide.com after the screening. "I thought it was the perfect mix of scares, action and humor. It really makes me want to see what happens next."

Though Ball has seen early cuts of the first few episodes, he says he'll be watching as a fan this season. "I offered what advice I had and I said, 'If you guys need me, feel free to come to me,'" he said. "But basically I just sat back because I left the show because I was pretty burned out. So, I just sat back and lived my life for a while. It was hard at first, but now I like it. I may never work again."